Crop harvesters such as for cotton, typically include a plurality of row units for harvesting or stripping crop from plants, which row units are arrayed across a front end of the harvester. Such harvesters include ducts extending individually or in pairs upwardly and rearwardly from the row units to an inlet opening or openings through the upper front region of a crop receiver structure. The receiver is generally in the form of a basket, and typically includes a compactor apparatus operable for compacting cotton received and contained therein.
More advanced cotton receivers are configured as cotton module builders, and include compactor apparatus operable for building a densely compacted, freestanding module from the cotton. Reference in this latter regard, Covington et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,178,454 issued Feb. 20, 2007, and entitled Compactor Apparatus Including Single Cylinders and Guide Members on the Sides of an On-board Module Builder of a Cotton Harvesting Machine. The overall operational height of such harvesting machines typically exceed height limits for vehicles for travel over public roads and thoroughfares. As a result, many cotton receiver structures, as exemplified by the module builder of the Covington et al. patent, are designed to be collapsible or retractable to a shorter height. To illustrate, the module builder of the Covington et al. patent is collapsible to a sufficient extent so as to have an overall collapsed height which is at or below the height limit for road travel, and is about the height of the roof of the operator cabin of that harvester.
Typically, when a cotton receiver is filled to its capacity with cotton, or at other times, the receiver can be unloaded. Some cotton receivers are raised in their entirety for unloading. For others, such as the module builder of the above-referenced Covington et al. patent, only the front end of the receiver is raised, so as to tilt the receiver for unloading. In still other constructions, the receiver is tilted to one side or the other, as illustrated in Wigdahl et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,701,701, entitled Duct Support and Transition Structure for a Harvester, issued Mar. 9, 2004. In each instance, the front end of the receiver is required to be moved away from the cotton ducts, which typically remain in their operational positions. To accommodate this, the referenced Covington et al. patent utilizes a well known construction wherein the upper ends of the ducts terminate in curved, rearwardly open end portions aligned with forwardly facing openings on the upper front end of the receiver. The forwardly facing openings may, or may not, include associated hood structures extending thereabove. An observed advantage of this construction is that it allows the receiver to freely move away from and toward the ends of the ducts. In the harvester of the Wigdahl et al. patent, the upper ends of the ducts terminate with an upwardly facing opening beneath or within the interior of a larger hood extending continuously the width of the upper front end of the receiver, and the hood is moved away with the cotton receiver from the ducts during the unloading operation. As with the Covington et al. construction, an advantage is that no disconnection or disassembly of the receiver from the ducts is required for the unloading operation.
When the cotton receiver is vertically telescopically retracted or collapsed into a reduced height transport and storage mode, the ducts are also typically telescopically retracted or collapsed to a reduced height. In the referenced Covington et al. construction, the ducts are telescopically collapsible in the well known manner, and the upper ends of the ducts are located forwardly of the front end of the receiver and any associated hood structure. This enables collapsing both the cotton receiver and any associated hood structure to about the cabin height, without requiring disassembly. As another example of a known duct structure reducible in height to that of the operator cabin, reference Schneider et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,857,908 entitled Duct Structure for a Cotton Harvester, issued Jan. 12, 1999, wherein the upper portions of the respective ducts are pivotable relative to the lower portions.
In contrast, in the referenced Wigdahl et al. construction, apparatus is provided for connecting the upper ends of the ducts together for joint vertical movement between the operational and collapsed states, which apparatus includes fluid cylinder drivers for powered operation, and which vertical movement maintains the upper ends of the ducts when in the collapsed state directly beneath the larger hood. A limitation of this arrangement, however, is that in the illustrated collapsed state, the receiver structure still has an overall height well above the operator cabin. Thus it is apparent that the hood would have to be disassembled from the cotton receiver, or the ducts removed, for the receiver to be vertically collapsible to about the height of the operator cabin. This would be time consuming and costly, and reassembly would be required render the harvester operational again.
Therefore, what is sought is apparatus and a method for collapsing a cotton receiver and ducts for transport and storage, that is at least partially automatic, and reduces or eliminates need for disassembly and reassembly of any associated hood or hoods, and otherwise overcomes one or more of the problems and shortcomings of the known constructions and methods.